


Their Separate Ways

by Elwyne



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Epilogue, Missing Scene, Season/Series 02, Season/Series 02 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-02-27
Packaged: 2018-03-15 09:31:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3442124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elwyne/pseuds/Elwyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hardy and Miller have second thoughts as she walks out of his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Alec

Alec stood at the window to watch her go. She walked with her head down, shoulders hunched inside her bright orange jacket. The wind tugged at stray curls of hair. Finally she reached the end of the pier and turned, in between the houses and out of sight. 

Ellie Miller was gone from his life for good.

Alec turned from the window. Everything looked different now. He could breathe again. The terrible weight was gone from his chest, and with it the sense of impending doom. The whole world seemed brighter, more vivid, everything more alive. A fog had lifted. He straightened his shoulders and filled his lungs to the bottom.

He'd been in love with Tess, he knew, and it had blinded him to her faults. She was a good detective: quick-minded, sharp-eyed, indefatigable as a hound on a scent. But she was also impatient. She went too fast; she overlooked details. She missed things. She failed to connect the dots.

Miller had shown her up.

Miller had shown them both up, really. He understood, now, how mired he had become in the case. Emotionally involved. He shuddered again at the memory of Pippa's weight against him. It was his fear for Daisy that had driven him, not justice for the girls. He saw himself in Ricky's shoes, so much that he never once saw Ricky. He saw the stricken father, and never once the philanderer, the drunk, the rapist, the murderer.

"Well done, Miller," he said to the empty room.

And now she was gone.

He rubbed his chest. The last of the soreness had faded; he could just feel the lump beneath his skin, the tiny machine giving him life. He marveled at it. He wanted to run, to feel the wind in his face, salt air in his lungs. He wanted to shout from the rooftops.

Miller, he wanted to say. Don't go. We can do anything now, you and me. We can right a thousand wrongs. Together we can solve the world.

But she was gone. Gone to pick up the pieces of her life. Gone into the bosom of her family, this place, the town he had despised. It would look after her. She didn't need him anymore.

If she ever had.

"You're wrong," she had said to him. "We're not alone." How could she believe that, after everything Joe had done? The person she'd trusted most in the world was a monster. What if Tess had committed murder, and not just adultery? What if she had strangled a child? He shook his head, unable to conceive of such a thing. How did Miller preserve her faith in humanity, when it had taken so much less to shatter his?

But that was who she was, the core of who she was. That was why they made such a good team. She saw the best in Claire and Lee; while he clung to his convictions, she was able to look past his bias and find the truth. Without her, all he had was his cynicism.

And Daisy.

He smiled to himself. No more broken heart, he'd told her, and it was true. He was healed. Someday soon, he hoped, Ellie Miller would feel the same.

The taxi pulled up outside. Alec picked up his bags and went out, locking the door behind him for the very last time.


	2. Ellie

Tears streamed down Ellie's face as she hurried along the pier. She hadn't wanted it to end that way. She would have liked to have parted as friends. But it hurt too much. She couldn't let him in. She couldn't let him see her cry.

And cry she did as she turned the corner, leaving the little blue chalet behind. Heaving sobs wracked her chest. It was over, finally, the whole ugly mess: the trial, the verdict, Joe, all of it done. Finally, she could start again.

Still, it hurt. Her heart ached like it was being squeezed. Reaching her car she stopped to catch her breath and dry her cheeks. How long would she have to live with this pain? Forever?

It seemed likely.

She had to admit, as she slid behind the wheel, that already things were looking up. The case that had destroyed four families was closed. Tom was home, and Beth didn't hate her anymore. Alec Hardy would live to hunt down criminals again.

Fresh tears welled up in her eyes.

He was a good man, in spite of first impressions. He had tried to help her, even while using her to help himself. In the end, he deserved whatever happiness he could manage. She wasn't sure why his kindness hurt so much. Did she feel, deep down, she didn't deserve it?

No, she thought. It wasn't his kindness that hurt. It was everything else. He'd swept into town and stolen her job, revealed her husband as a murderer, failed to support the case, and strong-armed her into fixing his old mess. His caring for her seemed like an afterthought. And that, she felt, she didn't deserve.

She knew she wasn't being fair. But wasn't it time life was unfair in her favor?

Drying her eyes Ellie started the car. She wished Alec Hardy good fortune in her heart. They had made a good team, while it lasted; she regretted that it had to end. She regretted all the things she hadn't been able to say.

Maybe someday she'd get another chance.

For now, though, she had work to do. Two wounded families to bring together, to begin the long process of healing. Children to strengthen and protect. Rifts to close. She had her son back again, her best friend back again. It was time to make the most of it.

Ellie pulled out into the road and pointed the car toward home.


End file.
